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Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Help the poor, reduce social problems, businessmen urged
The business sector should help the poor to avoid a “tsunami-scale” of social problems in the country.
Norberto Quisumbing Jr., chairman of the Norkis Group, called on the business sector to “share and do something” to help alleviate the poverty situation in the country.
“The rich should be made to share and do something. If they will not do so voluntarily, they should somehow be mandated to share a little of what they have with the poor,” he said.
In a forum late last year, Philippine Business for Social Progress-Visayas executive committee chairman John Domingo also stressed that a competent, healthy and efficient workforce is needed to sustain business in the country.
He added that if the lives of the underprivileged are improved, they will have opportunities for employment and will have the purchasing power.
“If it is somehow too late to help the adult-poor, then we should help their children, providing them with nutrition so their brains can develop well, helping them with education so they can go through high school and college and be quality professionals, citizens and leaders,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
On the other hand, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president Eric Mendoza said MCCI’s programs respond to the call of helping the poor by providing jobs to people.
“One of our programs is Propel (promoting regional opportunities for enterprise and livelihood) that teaches people to become entrepreneurs,” he said.
Training
He told Sun.Star Cebu, in an interview, that MCCI is one of the recipients of a P1- million fund from Sen. Francis Pangilinan to be used for Propel program in extending seminars and trainings to its beneficiaries.
Propel aims to promote and develop some 50 to 100 small and micro enterprises involved in providing tourism-related services and products in Mandaue.
“We are giving special attention to the home furnishing sector and all small and medium enterprises in the city,” he said.
Mendoza added that aside from home furnishings, furniture and food, MCCI is also eyeing to boost the information technology (IT) sector in the city.
“We already received a lot of inquiries from various IT companies to locate in Mandaue. However, we still need to improve our facilities and equip our workforce by training them so they could qualify and meet the IT companies’ requirements,” he said.
He added that MCCI also promotes responsible parenthood.
“We can’t be feeding people forever. We should teach them to make a living and at the same time teach them to be responsible citizens by contributing in population growth control,” he said. (ALC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 3, 2006 issue)
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